Agro-Food and Horticulture Roadshow to Zhenjiang and Nanjing
On June 22-23, the Consulate General (CG) in Shanghai in cooperation with Tuspark Jiangsu and the Netherlands Business Support Office in Nanjing (NBSO) organized the first online-offline roadshow in 2020. The purpose of the two-day roadshow in Zhenjiang and Nanjing was to promote the Dutch know-how in the field of agro-food and protected horticulture in China. In total 12 Dutch companies, representing different areas in the agro-food and horticulture chain participated in the roadshow.
The roadshow started in Zhenjiang. In collaboration with the Zhenjiang Agriculture & Rural Affairs Bureau, the Dutch delegation, consisting of 6 companies that participated offline, and 11 participants at location visited the Zhenjiang Xin’Gang Agriculture glasshouse vegetable production site. Afterwards the delegation traveled to Hanya Organic Farm where 13 local horticulture companies and two knowledge institutions joined them for a seminar. Both the Dutch and Chinese side exchanged their views on strengthening cooperation to further modernize local horticulture.
“The visit to Zhenjiang was well organized and we made some useful acquaintances. In Nanjing, I found it very useful, we have met several clients and potential new customers; matchmaking can always be better, maybe we can invite the companies in August to the NIIA expo and in the meanwhile prepare some specific questions and actions” - Fulco Wijdooge, general manager of Ridder Group Shanghai
On the second day, the delegation participated in the Dutch Green & Intelligent Agricultural Enterprises Roadshow at the Jiangsu Baima Agri Int’l Expo Center. Our colleague from the CG in Shanghai, Ms. Wasser, held the opening speech in which she emphasized innovation and circular agriculture in the Netherlands in a hope that more cooperation and businesses will be fostered by this activity.
After the opening ceremony, the vice president of the Nanjing Agriculture University delivered a keynote speech called “Frontier Development and Application of Plant Phenomics”, and from the Dutch side, Mr. Wouters from Food Valley NL gave an inspiring presentation about how Food Valley is trying to shape the future of food. This was followed by 10 pitches from Dutch companies, with chief representative of the NBSO Nanjing as commentator.
In addition, the Head of Baima Town gave a presentation on the Jiangsu Nanjing Agricultural High-Tech Demonstration Zone. According to Mr. Qian, the local government has been investing heavily in infrastructures, such as an incubator center, the exhibition center, a new campus for Nanjing Forestry University, and a new research center for Nanjing Agriculture University. He pointed out that there is great potential for Dutch and Chinese companies and organizations to collaborate and exchange knowledge and experience.
To make the roadshow more interactive for the online participants, matchmaking opportunities were also scheduled in. In total, more than 100 people attended the event either online or offline.
“It has been a pleasure for us (DGD) to participate in this combined Online/Offline event. My general impression is that the Nanjing Roadshow has been both useful and valuable event for recognizing Dutch Greenhouse Delta in China also given the reactions we received yesterday and today. As far as I experienced, the organization of the event was good, especially the repeated rehearsals on ZOOM contributed to smooth presentations.” - Gert Dral, Executive Advisory Board Dutch Greenhouse Delta